June Update 2015

The Out of the Woodwork world is BOOMING as our favorite movers and shakers do their thing. Things? Do their things! As you may have noticed, our posts have slowed in the past months. Fear not! Less time writing just means more time being physically involved in the journeys of our friends! In the past months I have been beta testing new games, listening to tons of new music, visiting our past guests, and acquiring some new friends to help our community flourish. We’ve reached a point where I cannot possibly cover all of the news that’s flooding in from our past guests by myself, but here goes my best attempt to cover a few of the major moves our friends have made.

Regan Nishikawa, photographer, graphic designer, and creator of our last summer’s incredible line of T-shirts, posted a tear-jerking new short film to his YouTube channel last week in collaboration with his brainchild Create Change. Create Change originated as Nishikawa’s senior capstone project for Oregon State University. The short delved into the daily mental struggle of a young homosexual man (played by Nishikawa), focusing on the effects people’s words had on the character. “Our mission is to create a safer world,” Nishikawa wrote on the Create Change website, “not only for the queer community, but for all people everywhere.” As a self-proclaimed promoter of a positive entertainment community, I could not help but be drawn to Nishikawa’s cause. Whether he will continue his work with this idea or not, his video and message remain.

The IMC Magazine has snatched away some of my time lately, but the experience has been well worth it. I now write a monthly music review for this new digital publication, giving old friends and new ones alike yet another opportunity for exposure. You may remember Mark and Carol, the hosts that interviewed myself and Soren Bryce on their radio show Twitter Tuesday Live last year. These two put their heads together to bring this new magazine to life, and it’s been a pleasure working with them! If you or someone you know has music that needs to be heard, IMC Magazine is the place to start.

Malece Miller is currently performing all over North America for Lindsey Stirling’sMusic Box Tour. Miller can also be seen competing alongside past guest Teddy Coffey and the rest of “The Treadmill Dance Crew” on this season of America’s Got Talent. Miller is one artist we have to keep a close eye on as her successes come at such a rapid rate, and we are proud to promote her as a pillar of the Out of the Woodwork community.

Soren Bryce continues to perform in LA and NYC while working behind the scenes just prior to the long-anticipated release of her new EP in August. Soren is rumored to be flying out to NYC to work with Razor and Tie for an indefinite period of time. The photo above was also released in connection with the new “Triple Threat Project“. More details as they become available.

Trove has skyrocketed over the past year, from a small community of a few hundred players to thousands and thousands of regular participants. Contributing to its success is the idea of “player created content”, in which the developers allow players to create nearly everything seen in the game itself- from weapons to in-house decorations to the buildings and dungeons themselves for some great rewards. Trove announced that it will remain a free-to-play game when it launches on Steam on July 9th. You can check out our interview with Trove’s head artist Brian Clarke (@Grumpntug) right here. Keep an eye out for items designed by “chancyjohnson” when you play 😉 If there is a game that represents Out of the Woodwork’s mission to create, encourage, and enable positive ideas, it’s Trove. We are so excited to witness this game as it gets its full release.

I’ve run out of time for today! If you have news that needs to be heard, be sure to tweet us @OOTWW @ImChancyJohnson, or post it to our Facebook page!